Recount Of Progressive Ballots May Take Until Tuesday

The
recounts in the Progressive Primary are expected to be certified by a judge this week.

Washington
Superior Court Judge Robert Bent has scheduled a hearing in the case for
Tuesday afternoon.

Write-in candidate Annette Smith asked for the
recount after losing in earlier counting to Progressive Party Chairwoman Martha
Abbott by one vote. The party decided earlier this year not to run a candidate
for governor, so Abbott withdrew after her apparent victory.

Secretary
of State Jim Condos is under pressure to have ballots printed and delivered to
town clerks in time for them to be mailed to overseas and military voters 45
days before the November election.

Condos
says he had hoped to have the recount done this week because of the already
tight deadline to complete the general election ballots.

"Hopefully this would have
taken only a day to complete," Condos said. "And I think part of the process is that the
courts went through a reorg several years ago and we have several new clerks
who have not been through this process in the past."

Condos says mistakes can be made as votes are
counted initially. He says the recount - even though it's cumbersome and
time-consuming - is designed to correct all the errors.